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Meeting of the Parliament 03 October 2012

03 Oct 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Scotland’s Future

Lamont, Johann Lab Glasgow Pollok Watch on SPTV

Presiding Officer, I note what you say about the debate being oversubscribed. It is our aspiration that this be a serious debate for the whole of Scotland. The noises from the Scottish National Party benches to my right suggest that those members have no intention of having a serious debate about these matters.

Life in opposition could be very easy: sit back; do not say anything controversial; criticise the Government’s weaknesses; and hope that, come the election in a few years’ time, people will think that we can do a better job. However, a few weeks ago, I met a group of carers and, for me, it was the final straw with regard to things that have been worrying me for many months.

The carers were home helps—kind and compassionate people who support our elderly in their homes, providing meals and helping them to wash and to do other day-to-day tasks that most of us take for granted. While talking to them, I learned of the concept of task and go. I heard about carers who have to fit in four visits in an hour. I heard about carers who are instructed not to talk to their clients, because they simply do not have the time.

We know that there are elderly people in our communities who see a different face every time they are due a visit. We remember all too well the powerful testimony of the widow of the late Ken Maitland, who had the indignity of having more than 106 carers through his door in a year. We know that there are elderly people who opt out of the care support because it is no longer working for them. Is this really the kind of care that we want for our grandparents, our mothers and fathers, and—when the time comes—ourselves?

I decided that enough was enough. Every week, we are told by the SNP Government how wonderful life is in Scotland and that any overhanging problems can be swept away with one magic solution. The presentation that we hear from the First Minister every Thursday bears no resemblance to what I am hearing in my community and across Scotland every other week.

We are not playing the game anymore. We cannot tell these women that everything is going to be fine. We cannot finesse something that is not delivering for people. We will refuse to have respect for a Scottish Government that claims to care but refuses to acknowledge those women and their concerns—a Government that refuses to acknowledge what is going on in the real world.

The Scottish Government does not like to be confronted with reality. In March, the First Minister accused my colleague Jackie Baillie of telling scare stories about the shortage of blankets in Scottish hospitals. It took a visit to Parliament by 92-year-old Helen Macbeth and Jack Barr, a grandfather, to tell him about their experiences before he was prepared to admit that old people were going without blankets at night.

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Meeting of the Parliament 03 October 2012

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